Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1039781
HONDA GOLD WING TOUR VS. BMW K 1600 GTL COMPARISON TEST P100 this style of riding. This is touring, and comfort must be king. There's hardly anything to choose between the Wing and Beemer in the braking department. Both bikes have linked systems and both need to haul up extremely heavy loads, and both do it exceptionally well, but the Wing's seven-speed Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT) is another ace up its sleeve. Working in tandem with the selected riding mode of either Rain, Econ, Tour- ing or Sport, the DCT will change char- acteristics according to how the rider operates the machine. For example, if you're in Econ mode but you need to quickly gun the throttle to get away from the truck that's blindly merging into your lane, the DCT will respond with an instant kickdown of gears and accelera- tion in the same manner it would if you were riding in Sport mode. When accelerating in Econ or Tour- ing mode from a standstill, it's quite remarkable how smooth the DCT shifts are. In Econ mode, you barely register the shifts, as the system keeps the revs low and lazy and reaches seventh gear as soon as possible. Sport mode could be regarded as surplus to needs, because it holds a shift and keeps the revs high in corners the same way you would on a much smaller, sportier bike when you're really going for it. Kinda pointless, given the bike's overall char- acteristic. In terms of the overall riding experi- ence, both Kit and I gave our nod to the Gold Wing. It's just a better ma- chine for the intended audience, but riding is only one part of a maxi-touring test, there are other parts like luggage and electronics to get through. An area the BMW has definitely got the goods over the Honda is the extra luggage capacity, and use of it. Both machines have ample storage space, but only the BMW can fit two full-size hel- mets in the top box. The Honda gets only one and some room for a jacket, which, when you're riding two-up on a bike worth over $30K, isn't up to scratch. There are no helmet locks, either. The BMW's luggage capacity, while only five liters more than the Honda's, is better thought out with more space where it's needed. As a result, the Beemer is slightly wider at the side- cases, but you get better options for storage than the Honda. On the flip side, the Honda's electronics are much easier to operate, especially if you have an iPhone and can hook it up to Apple Car- Play and hear the two front and rear speak- Honda's done exceptionally well with the Gold Wing, creating a new benchmark for the class.